Chiron's Valentine

I had to make room for him
the way myths are enforced
you were laughing down here
while I was buried up there
on some (earliest?) vases
he’s depicted clothed
with human forelegs
but in others he’s a horse
from the waist down and
a man from the waist up
in some accounts
he’s the teacher of heroes
who ride on his back
Achilles his favorite
in others he’s the killer
looking out from
every human face
in any event to avoid
endless agonizing pain
he surrendered his immortality
to Prometheus for which
he was given his own
constellation and all we
got was this T-shirt of fire
to wear forever.